Effect of Labour and Delivery on Plasma Hepatic Enzymes in the Newborn

Abstract

The reference values are comparable to those published for Caucasian populations. There are moderate elevations in LDH and AST associated with the onset of labour and changes in acid-base status.

Lactate dehydrogenase as an indicator of severe illness in neonatal intensive care patients: a longitudinal cohort study

“…We also consider the finding that LDH has a slightly higher predictive value in the big group with normal saturation, temperature and capillary refill as very interesting, as it means that plasma LDH increases earlier than these clinical signs in a significant proportion of the patients. Previous (12,13) and on‐going research have established reference ranges for LDH in term newborn infants, whereas good reference studies in the preterm group are still scarce. In the group of term newborn infants, we found that the best cut‐off values for prediction of need of NICU (group A) in our study, is exceeding the upper normal LDH limit from the literature, which is in the range of 500–700 U/L.…”

Lactic Dehydrogenase in Umbilical Cord Blood in Healthy Infants after Different Modes of Delivery

“…Cord blood is easily accessible immediately after birth, but reference values have only been reported for a limited number of healthy infants in which the means of excluding factors that might affect LDH in plasma are not described [3][4][5].…”

Using lactate dehydrogenase to predict the severity of respiratory distress in term newborn infants with no perinatal asphyxia

“…Both LDH and AST in normal newborns were inversely related to pH and BE, which suggested that the more significant the hypoxia, the higher the LDH and AST levels. 7 Gunes showed increasing elevation of LDH with an increasing degree of perinatal asphyxia. Their mean AST on day 1 was higher in the mild (84 U/L), moderate (160 U/L), and severe asphyxia (227 U/L) groups compared to their control (70 U/L) group.…”

“…8 For healthy non-asphyxiated newborns, normal LDH levels are between 330-700 IU⁄ L in the first 24 hours, and between 320-600 IU/L at 72 hours. 7,8 Because perinatal hypoxia results in plasma LDH elevation postpartum, it is important to identify infants with some degree of perinatal hypoxia to appropriately interpret their postnatal LDH levels. We used the term "perinatal hypoxia" to denote some degree of oxygen deficiency, if insufficient to satisfy the "perinatal asphyxia" criteria defined earlier.…”